OAFVC Blog

What You Didn't Know A Commercial Kitchen in Ontario Should Have

A good commercial kitchen should be more than just a place for you to cook food. It should be a place where all of your needs are met from processing to marketing.

Here's What You Should Look for in a Commercial Kitchen in Ontario

You should, of course, be able to cook at your commercial kitchen. A variety of appliances is helpful when it comes to mass producing, and cooking with gas is preferred for the best outcome. Convection ovens allow for faster and more evenly cooked food. They work by circulating hot air, allowing for better browning when roasting or caramelizing. With faster cooking times, you can produce more in less time. And with less energy consumption a convection oven is more environmentally friendly than other ovens.

Finding a commercial kitchen with a sanitized room for cold pressing, dehydrating, washing and sterilizing, slicing, dicing, peeling, shredding, and centrifuge drying is an absolute requirement. Finding kitchens that offer self-loading of produce into baskets as well as transfering produce to a sorting table for prepping and packing will also save you valuable time. Also, look for a commercial kitchen with controlled room temperature that can be easily adjusted for different food processing requirements. This is a critical step in food safety.

Cold storage should be made available to increase the shelf life of food products. Proper storage will keep your product fresher longer and minimize any waste. Having on site food storage with your commercial kitchen will also save you time and the hassle of running the roads, driving your products back and forth.

Packaging is an absolute requirement to have with your commercial kitchen. Find one that includes:

vacuum packaging

modified atmosphere packaging

tamper-evident seals

heat-sealed pouches

corrugated casing

coding and taping And don’t forget labels. Having specialty printing for your labels on site will make your commercial kitchen a one-stop shop. Be sure to include barcode/GSI printing as well, as these are essential for food entrepreneurs. Some stores do not accept packaged foods without a GSI code, so make sure you have what you need.

It is an understatement that finding a commercial kitchen that will offerbusiness consulting servicesis extremely helpful. Having experts on site can give you guidance on food product and packaging, and on legislation with labelling requirements and ingredient declaration that will save you time and money.

Here’s What You Will Find at OAFVC’s Commercial Kitchen

OAFVC is a commercial kitchen to meet all of your needs, with all the above 5 features and more. Now you know what to expect when looking for a commercial kitchen in Ontario. You don’t need to have the capital to benefit — you can use our facilities and equipment and still have all the control over your food production process that you desire. And you don’t have to stop what you’re already doing to grow; you can just expand your small food business production by using our readily available services.

To learn about common obstacles to small-batch food production, download this e-book.